In many situations, it is necessary or desirable for consumers or others to provide personal information to third parties, such as vendors or service providers, to obtain goods or services, facilitate transactions, or for other purposes. However, providing personal information to third parties, whether in verbal, written or electronic form, can be a tedious, inconvenient and repetitious task. Each time an individual provides personal information to a new recipient, a possibility exists that errors will occur, particularly if the information is conveyed orally. Moreover, when personal information is provided or stored in paper form, it can be burdensome to carry, deliver and/or manage paper files in order to conduct personal and business affairs. In the context of electronic data transactions, such as those conducted over the Internet, consumers are often reluctant to convey personal information due to security concerns. Also, certain aspects of a consumer's personal information (e.g., address, phone number, etc.) may change from time to time, which can cause third party records (paper or electronic) to become inaccurate or out of date. Thus, there is a need for a convenient, less error-prone and more secure system for allowing the consumer the ability to conveniently manage, distribute and update the consumer's information, to ensure that third parties are provided with accurate and up-to-date information, and to prevent unauthorized access to the information.
Furthermore, as information technology and network technology become more prolific, people find themselves repeatedly and manually inputting the same data into different computer systems. For example, consumers may find themselves having to manually input their personal and billing information via each vendor website through which they choose to complete an electronic commerce (“e-commerce”) or mobile commerce (“m-commerce”) transaction. As the number of secure websites grows, consumers also find themselves having to manage numerous usernames and passwords. Thus, there is a further need for a convenient and secure system for automating the management of consumer information.
Automated or partially automated solutions for managing information historically have largely been localized processes. Using conventional techniques, users are able to create and store data files containing personal information on their personal computers or other client devices, such as personal digital assistants (“PDAs”), pagers, mobile telephones, etc. The data elements in such data files can be shared using specialized applications for filtering data out of the data file and into another application. However, such systems typically require a permanent download of proprietary data management software that might not be compatible among different devices. In addition, the data management software and data files are often stored on only a single personal computer or computerized device. If the personal computer or other computerized device becomes lost or stolen, the user's data may no longer be accessible, and might end up in the possession of another person. If the personal computer or other computerized device crashes, the data can easily be lost.
Accordingly, there remains a need for a more secure, flexible and convenient system for storing information and a method for allowing the user to manage and distribute that information using a personal computer or other network-connected device. There further remains a need for such a system and method that provides central information storage and does not necessarily require a permanent download of proprietary software to a client device for management and distribution of the information. Additionally, there is a need for a mechanism that provides the consumer with a convenient means for making information available to third parties, and for updating the information when necessary or allowing others to update the information on the consumer's behalf.